A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) renominated sitting MP Raju Bista from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, party’s Kurseong MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma on March 25 announced that he would contest as an Independent candidate against the official nominee.
Months ago, Mr. Sharma had demanded that a “bhumipatra ”[son of the soil] be given ticket from Darjeeling. Mr. Bista hails from Manipur and belongs to the Gorkha community.
“I will stand by what I had said in the past. Since the party has nominated an outsider I will contest from Darjeeling as an Independent candidate,” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu.
He said the last three MPs elected on BJP ticket, including Mr. Bista who won in 2019, were “outsiders”. “The party wants to say that there is no deserving candidate among the 17 lakh people of Darjeeling. Or these candidates are sent to put a lid on the demands of the locals of Darjeeling,” the BJP MLA said.
Elected from Kurseong in 2021 on BJP ticket, Mr. Sharma has been one of most vocal legislators of the saffron party, who has been pushing for the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland. The demand for Gorkhaland has dominated the politics of Darjeeling hills since 1980s.
The Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat comprises three constituencies Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong in the hills as well as Martigara-Naxalbari, Siliguri, Phansidewa, Chopra in the foothills. Since 2009, the people of the constituency have been electing BJP MPs – Jaswant Singh (2009-2014), S.S. Ahluwalia (2014-2019) and Raju Bista (2019-2024).
There was speculation that former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who hails from Darjeeling, could be given ticket but the party decided to place its bets on Mr. Bista.
Darjeeling MLA from the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) Neeraj Zimba has supported the candidature of Mr. Bista.
The rebellion of a BJP MLA has embarrassed the West Bengal BJP leadership. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said a Lok Sabha ticket can be given to only one candidate though there can be many hopefuls. State BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said the decision to renominate Mr. Bista was final. “The party is unified over the matter. Mr. Bista will win the polls by a bigger margin.”
